From The Mailbox :: Judgement?
I received this email from someone close to me. We were discussing many things and among them was just how we tend to walk around judging everyone and so forth… but I wanted to just copy and paste this to share it with all the readers of my blog. The person that wrote this was just writing their heart. They are not typically a “blogger” so I know that probably not anyone but me would read it sitting in my inbox. What they wrote was so awesome that I had to share it. So here it is:
Judge not lest you be judged
What does that really mean? It is OK to judge people based on OUR beliefs, OUR experience or OUR interpretations. Is the standard what we think is right or wrong?
Our beliefs – some people were brought up with the Hell and Damnation message so they spread the Word the way they are taught. Should we judge them? Jesus called the Pharisees and the Sadducees vipers and told them to repent and be saved. Jesus was very direct and to the point. He died for them too. On the other hand, new Christians tend to be zealous in their newly found born again experience. They appear pushy and judgmental toward those who believe something different or don’t believe at all. How many people do they turn from the gospel being zealous?
Our experiences – What about those who wear a Christian shirt but has a melt down? Does Christianity mean that we have to be soft spoken, loving, kind etc – all the time? Do we determine a person is a Christian when they wear a religious shirt? Is it OK “or better” to lose our temper or have a mishap when we are not wearing our Christian nametag – after all no one will actually know we are Christians without it.
Our interpretations -Do we determine (judge) people not to be a Christian because they have a glass of wine, buy a lottery ticket, or make fun of someone else? We wish we turned perfect when we were born again. (Better than that I wish I became perfect after being saved for 25 years). There is no graduation day. We have to work through our issues and our choices just like everyone else does. Any church we attend will never be perfect because we are there. Do everyone’s mirrors work in their house? Do we see the man/woman in the mirror clearly, if so can we honestly say that our sin is better than their sin?
The Bible tells us not to cause a new Christian to stumble. It is better that a stone be tied around our neck and be casted into the ocean. How many people have we caused to stumble because we did something that they believe is not “Christian-like?”
The truth, the way I interpret it is, we will be judged by the same criteria that we judge others. If we are hard on people, others will be hard on us. If we give mercy and grace, we will receive mercy and grace from others. Come on, we all do stupid stuff. We all do things that God does not approve of and believe me there is someone who could point it out even if we never hear about it.
I want to be judged by the fruits I bear. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I don’t want to promote a certain church, pastor, Christian domination, or even a specific belief? (Of course if you don’t have a home church, please come with me!) I want to promote the love of Jesus. God showed us love by giving His only Son to make a way for us. I cannot even image my son hanging on that cross.
An evangelist shared a statistic with us the other day. He asked us “What do you think the percentage of Christians said that they lead someone to Christ in the last 12 months?” The answer is 7%. I hate to see the percentages of those who helped feed the hungry, clothed the naked, met a need or showed love to someone that they did not know. I am not talking about sending money to someplace or letting your church do it for you. I am actually talking about stepping out of a comfort zone to really help someone in need.
If we judged by the criteria God judges by we would judge what is in the heart. The problem is that a lot of times the heart is covered by hurt, mistrust, anger, fear, low self-esteem, etc so we have a hard time seeing someone’s heart. We need to take time to get to know people rather than judging. Remember the Bible talks about how we are to treat others especially those in the house of faith (all believers not just the ones we agree with). We need to give the same mercy and grace we want. After all we have more in common than you think, we are children of God.
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